Linaloo

Craft + Apathy = Crapathy

For every success...(cozy, yummy socks finished at the weekend). ...there's a big fat failure. (challenge set by giveaway winner back in December)

I could see how this could be really nice if you tried. I just wasn't that into it and it shows. An important craft lesson learned from my Mum: sometimes, you've just got to let it go, throw it in the recycling and forget it ever happened.

Finished.

Move on.

That's better.

For those of you who asked about the socks, I used this pattern (because it's free!) and couldn't have possibly done it without my new BFF, Dorret Conway.

Somebody stop me!

I remember this post from Ali last year very clearly, thinking "YES! I want to do and feel that too!". And I did. I got my first knitting high!

Now I feel I can take anything on. Really, I do. I feel different, I'm not the same person. Maybe my life will be referred to henceforth in terms of the pre and post sock knitting years? Perhaps I could ask for a pay rise as surely adding "can knit socks" to a CV adds instant gravitas to one's credentials? Well, maybe I'm jumping the gun a bit as truth be told it could only say "can knit sock" for the time being. Got to go cast on the other one...

PS I DID IT!!! And thank you all for your wonderful words of encouragement!

Forever

Finally, a challenge I set myself last year, I'm starting my first pair of socks.

I had no idea.

It's like knitting thread with toothpicks, it's going to take forever!

Deep Freeze

We are officially in the deep freeze. Although make that colder than your freezer. Temperatures are hovering around the -30C mark, even colder with the wind chill. This will probably last a few weeks, off and on.

How we cope with the weather and surviving the harsh winters is probably the most common question I get asked about by friends, family and blog readers. Let's face it, such low temperatures are somehow incomprehensible when you’ve rarely dealt with numbers below zero. Now in the middle of my third Canadian winter I feel confident enough to write with a little perspective and more knowledge about it.

Canadians are, first of all, pretty well equipped for winter. Snow removal, snow tires, a good winter coat, boots, gloves etc are de rigeur in Montreal. The first year I moved here I felt overwhelmed with what to buy for the children, snow pants, thermals gloves, snow boots –the list of supplies seemed endless. Ultimately, I've decided fashion takes a back to seat to practicality when it comes to outfitting yourself for winter. Really, who cares?

I find Quebecers very sociable and resilient, no whingeing alowed. In the winter, people seem to get together more, outside and in. There are more dinner parties, potluck suppers, more playdates on the toboggan hill. There's a permanent game of hockey being played on the rink behind our house. Or there’s the open invite to the neighbours' cottage in the mountains, plenty of skiing, snowshoeing, tubing etc.

Finally it's all about perception. There are days already this year when I’ve been to pick up the children from school amazed that they're playing outside in such dreadful conditions. They don't care - it's just business as usual. To most, a beautiful sunny day when it’s -20C outside but with clear blue skies is much nicer than a damp cloudy +5C when your bones are chilled and you just can’t warm up.

Inevitably there are occasions when going outside is not an option for more than a few minutes and the winter is undoubtedly long, the daily grind of battling with gloves, hats and neck warmers starts to drive you beserk and there's no sign of the arrival of spring until the end of April...

You can always stay in and knit yourself another hat.

Re-entry

Today signals re-entry into our normal life here. Children off to school, hubby and I back to work. It’s been a long (almost 3 weeks) and enjoyable break but I’m not very good at just “being” sometimes and like to keep busy.

I whipped up this over the weekend for my little man, not that he really needs another hat. At only four he already has an impressive collection thanks to his paranoid mother who worries that there’ll never be enough hats to combat the harsh Montreal winter. Anyhow – the pattern was a freebie via ravelry. Oh yes, I’ve succumbed. Isn’t it fabulous?

Learning to knit was one of last year’s craft resolutions but I’m not going to be making any more this year. Crafting and blogging without obligation is what I’m aiming for in 2009. The only commitment I’ve made to creativity is to the 365 group on flickr. It’s been six months since I’ve had my beloved camera and I’ve barely picked up the manual. Armed with a better photography book (thank you darling), I will be concentrating on becoming better acquainted with its full range of functionality, posting pictures daily here. Who knows, may be I’ll get some pictures for my walls by the end of the year?

Number 3

My third knitting project.

I finally plucked up the courage to knit a hat. A big milestone for me and now a previously unattainable, only ever dreamt of goal has been reached! Yay! And what's so satisfying about this project is that I did it on my own. Well almost. I had some help from a youtube tutorial explaining how to use dpns. Not sure about my bland colour choice but with an energetic and curious four year old in tow, browsing time in the wool shop was limited to a grand total of 90 seconds, so I decided to play it safe.

The pattern for this hat can be found here. Thank you to Elaine for the suggestion.

Next up: socks.

Of course.

Loser

My first felted project. A little (um, make that much smaller than anticipated) bag for the fall. Thank you Claudia for the leather straps - I had them sewn on yesterday. I'm such a loser. I can't follow a pattern or instructions to save my life, I seem to be genetically predisposed to disregarding all advice and learning the hard way. I knit about 100 rows of 100 stitches in the round for this thing, just making it up as I went along.

Here are some lessons learned (look away now if you too like to learn the hard way):

Be careful not to twist your stiches when knitting in the round. Knitting in the round means you don't have to purl a row, knit a row in order to have stockinette stitch.

I did seek advice from a friend on the felting process (but ignored it) and threw it in a bag in the washing machine along with some stinky running shoes for a bit of agitation. Alarmingly, it shrank very quickly - much more than the 10% I was expecting and it took about 4 days to dry out. Really?

Determined to see it through to the end, the tote I envisioned is now a handbag. Not sure I will be felting again in the forseeable - unless I learn to deal with seeing my hard work shrinking so much!

Sick Day

The children have colds. Bad enough to make me feel unsure about sending them to school this morning (they didn't go). But not bad enough apparently to stop them escaping outside for an afternoon of autumn sunshine.

Ruby's all about accessories (isn't every little girl?) these days and happily wore this scarf. It's barely passable as knitting really but was fun to make on one of our summer road trips. Tell me, why is it that I can barely look at a map whilst riding in the passenger seat without the fear of vomiting, yet I knit quite happily for an hour or two without a trace of nausea?

Of course I made myself one too...

First fire of the season, a bit random I know, but I like the picture.

I'm wondering what to knit next. I can only knit and purl, I'd like to make a hat or some socks but not sure I'm ready for the leap to the next level yet. Any suggestions?

PS Having some typepad trouble with my banner - bear with me.

TFI Friday

Here's something to celebrate - my first knitting project! Started way back in April, finished just on time!

A ruffle scarf. Knit on a circular needle, which, at its largest had almost 1000 stitches. I can't pretend to know what I was doing - the ladies in my knitting group get lots of credit for this one, including emergency assistance with dropped stitches at all kinds of inconvenient hours.

The thing is, I forgot how I dislike the feeling of wool against my skin. Too itchy. I've always had a problem with itchy woolly jumpers. Guess I'll be giving it to someone for Christmas!